Keykubad Yolu walking: Güneycik to Çıplaklı

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Bryan Keith

After last spring’s walk on the Zengibar Yolu, Ferda and I knew what we were getting into this time. This five-day tour was also organized by the Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi though the route was entirely in Antalya İli (province). We started in Güneycik (Gündoğmuş); most of the route was in Alanya İlçe (district).

The best thing was that we went with a fun group of friends. This was the first time we’ve seen Emek and Görkem since Şavşat four years ago.

IMG_20250422_163941 by bryandkeith on flickr

Likya Yolu apparently didn’t scare away Gülizar and Ali. They joined us again from İzmir.

Continue reading →
Posted in Trekking, Turkey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bicycle touring Malaysia: from Malacca south to Singapore

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Bryan Keith

The first week I bicycled in Sulawesi I complained about closed restaurants and too much traffic because of the busy end of Ramadan holiday. Unfortunately I have to do the same thing for Malaysia. We did find some nice roads, and we did find some horrible roads (narrow with too much traffic), and it wasn’t at all predictable from looking at the map which would be which. For example what looked like a main road heading into Benut had almost no traffic, but what I expected to be quiet rural roads before that were crowded with way too many cars.

IMG_20250402_104050 by bryandkeith on flickr
Continue reading →
Posted in Bicycle touring, Malaysia, Singapore | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bicycle touring Malaysia: Tampin to Malacca

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Bryan Keith

Well, sort of bicycle touring. Still in a little hurry to make it to Singapore in time for our flight home, Ferda and I took the train from Kuala Lumpur to Tampin. There’s one daily train that allows bicycles. Don’t miss it.

In Tampin we stayed in another large Chinese hotel, had a good Indian dinner, and found these street murals.

20250327_193216 by bryandkeith on flickr
Continue reading →
Posted in Bicycle touring, Malaysia | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Four days in Kuala Lumpur

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Bryan Keith

Not really bicycle touring. We took the bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and rode about 4km from KL Sentral to Chinatown. Four days later we left KL by train to Tampin, and we didn’t cycle at all during our days in the city. It appeared to be a very unfriendly city for cyclists, but we can’t really say firsthand.

Back in Lanta we bought plane tickets from Singapore to İstanbul, and in Penang we planned out the rest of the days. We will have time for a little riding — from Tampin to Singapore — but we basically skipped the whole bit from Kangar to Tampin. I don’t really know what we missed.

Before getting settled in Kuala Lumpur, it took some time checking quite a few hotels before we found a good one that would accept our bicycles. What a surprise then to see this view of Merdeka 118 from our balcony!

20250326_193102 by bryandkeith on flickr

A lot of what we did in Kuala Lumpur was walk around and look at buildings. We didn’t even have to leave the hotel to see the second tallest building in the world! For good food all it took was walking downstairs to the street where there were many options. On our first night we had this chicken and rice clay pot just in front of our hotel.

Continue reading →
Posted in Bicycle touring, Malaysia | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Six days in Penang

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Bryan Keith

Penang Island was the first place I visited on my first trip to Malaysia over 30 years ago. What I remember best from that trip was the time we spent snorkeling on the Perhentian Islands. Those islands are much more popular and developed now, and I knew I didn’t want to go back there. But after reading The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, I was excited to go back to Penang.

Penang has a lot to offer: Indian, Chinese, and Malay cultures, Thai and Burmese Buddhist temples, British colonial architecture. It’s quite the variety in a small, accessible area. Where to start? With the Indians, because, well, their food was the best! Heavy, rich north Indian curries in the equatorial heat? Yes! and loved them. The bread was fantastic.

IMG_20250318_124542 by bryandkeith on flickr

This Tamil meal reminded me a bit of Sri Lanka, still my favorite country for eating. There’s even bitter gourd and moringa on the plate here.

Continue reading →
Posted in Bicycle touring, Malaysia | Tagged , | 1 Comment